Art of the twentieth century : a reader / edited by Jason Gaiger and Paul Wood.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This reader, a companion to The Open University's four-volume Art of the Twentieth Century series, offers a variety of writings by art historians and art theorists. The writings were originally published as freestanding essays or chapters in books, and they reflect the diversity of art historical interpretations and theoretical approaches to twentieth-century art.

Accessible to the general reader, this book may be read independently or to supplement the materials explored in the four course texts. The volume includes a general introduction as well as a brief introduction to each piece, outlining its origin and relevance.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Acknowledgements (p. IX)
• A Note on the Presentation and Editing of Texts (p. X)
• List of Illustrations (p. XI)
• Introduction (p. XIX)
• I Modernism and the Crisis of Modernism
• Introduction (p. 3)
• 1 Selection of statements on early modernism (p. 4)
• (i) 'Simplification and Design', 1913 (p. 4)
• (ii) 'Negro Sculpture', 1920 (p. 7)
• (iii) from Modern Plastic Art, 1937 (p. 10)
• (iv) 'A Definition of Primitivism', 1938 (p. 16)
• (v) from The Story of Modern Art, 1941 (p. 18)
• (vi) 'Statement', 1959 (p. 20)
• 2 'The Nature of Abstract Art', 1937 (p. 22)
• 3 'Modernism in Comparative Perspective', 1982 (p. 31)
• 4 from Farewell to an Idea, 1999 (p. 38)
• II Avant-Garde and Neo-Avant-Garde
• Introduction (p. 55)
• 1 from Theory of the Avant-Garde, 1974 (p. 56)
• 2 'How a Cubist Painting Holds Together', 2002 (p. 62)
• 3 'The Pasted-Paper Revolution', 1958 (p. 89)
• 4 from The Critique of Everyday Life, 1947 (p. 94)
• 5 'The Primary Colours for the Second Time: A Paradigm Repetition of the Neo-Avant-Garde', 1986 (p. 98)
• III Modernity and Photography
• Introduction (p. 109)
• 1 'News about Flowers', 1928 (p. 110)
• 2 'A Few Words on Photomontage', 1934 (p. 112)
• 3 'Photography in the Service of Surrealism', 1986 (p. 114)
• 4 from The Photographer's Eye, 1969 (p. 132)
• 5 'Dismantling Modernism, Reinventing Documentary (Notes on the Politics of Representation)', 1976-8 (p. 139)
• 6 '"Marks of Indifference": Aspects of Photography in, or as, Conceptual Art', 1995 (p. 145)
• IV Subjects and Objects
• Introduction (p. 167)
• 1 'Literalism and Abstraction', 1970 (p. 168)
• 2 'Space, Time and Situation', 2000 (p. 174)
• 3 'Escape Attempts', 1995 (p. 189)
• 4 'Convention and Innovation', 1976 (p. 198)
• 5 'Art Object and Art Work', 1989 (p. 205)
• 6 'One Place After Another: Notes on Site Specificity', 1997 (p. 213)
• V The Performance of Identity
• Introduction (p. 225)
• 1 'Personism: A Manifesto', 1960 (p. 225)
• 2 'Painting, Feminism, History', 2001 (p. 227)
• 3 'The Discourse of Others: Feminists and Postmodernism', 1985 (p. 249)
• 4 from Body Art: Performing the Subject, 1998 (p. 261)
• 5 'Objects Beyond Objecthood', 1999 (p. 274)
• VI Globalisation
• Introduction (p. 289)
• 1 'What is this "black" in black popular culture?', 1992 (p. 290)
• 2 'Perfidious Fidelity: the Untranslatability of the Other', 1994 (p. 297)
• 3 'Emily Kame Kngwarreye and the Undeconstructible Space of Justice', 1998 (p. 304)
• 4 'The Black Box', 2002 (p. 319)
• Index (p. 327)
• Text Acknowledgements (p. 345)

Author notes provided by Syndetics